Apple Says Samsung Ignoring Court Order

Recently, Apple had hired many Korean speaking lawyers and legal experts to translate some documents provided by Samsung.

Samsung maybe providing various documents to courts and Apple during this legal tussle but Samsung is ignoring something.

In the latest development of Apple and Samsung’s ongoing patent litigation, Apple has accused Samsung of violating a court order by refusing to fully divulge its products’ source code.

The US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose had ordered Samsung to provide Apple with the source code for nine features found on its devices by 31 December 2011 so that any claims of patent infringement could be analyzed.

In a petition filed last Friday, 9 March 2012, Apple claimed that Samsung has failed to abide by that order by providing the source code from just a single product for each disputed feature. Apple argued that Samsung must provide the source code for all products that utilize the features while Samsung claimed that the code did not materially differ between its products. Samsung also said that one product’s worth of code would be enough to satisfy the judicial order.

As expert reports in the case are due in less than two weeks, Apple has stated that it is too late for the company’s experts to analyze the missing source code even if Samsung were to now provide it. Apple’s filing therefore argued that Samsung should be barred from relying on any of the source code it failed to produce when defending its infringement claims.

Now Apple must currently develop separate cases against each supposedly infringing Samsung product. Apple is also using Samsung’s inaction to call for the court to consider each product that Samsung did provide source code for to be “representative of all versions of that product.”

The Northern District of California case is just one of several around the world between the two tech giants, with a new case filed by Samsung in South Korea last week to compliment existing litigation in Germany and Australia. The contentious legal battle stems from an April 2011 lawsuit filed by Apple claiming that Samsung’s Galaxy line of products infringed on many Apple patents.

The California trial date for Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., 11-01846, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose) has been set for 25 August 2012.

What do you think will happen between Apple and Samsung now. Post your comments.

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